Multinational companies' cash conversion cycle continues toshrink, driven by improvements in days payables outstanding (DPO),according to this year's “U.S. Working Capital Survey” by The HackettGroup. The study examined the 2017 annual reports from the 1,000largest non-financial companies that have headquarters in theUnited States. The cash conversion cycle for these organizations iscurrently 33.8 days, a 4 percent improvement over 2016.

The largest companies have achieved even better results forworking capital: Among the 20 biggest companies in the study byannual revenue, the median cash conversion cycle is just five days.(And because these companies have the largest portfolios ofpayables, inventory, and receivables, their outstanding workingcapital results skew the overall results; The Hackett Group'scalculation of the cash conversion cycle across all 1,000 companiesis considerably tighter than the same statistic for the mediancompany in the study.)